Horses
We see many Horses throughout the Dark Parables games. Most of them are ours. Most of them are seen running away from us, off into the wilderness, never to be seen again. Or perhaps they gather somewhere in the forest, banding together and forming a society of The Detective's Former Steeds, and we will see a game devoted to these brave pioneers sometime in the future. Or not...probably not. But here they all are, in their equine glory, usually pictured from the backside as they run away from us in our time of need. Rise of the Snow Queen: Noah's White Steed We start off with the first horse encountered in the series - and one of the few who, you know, stays put and obeys commands. Naturally, these last two traits guarantee the horse isn't ours, ''sadly enough. No, this horse belongs to the mountain guide, Noah. It bravely brings us to the edge of the Snowfall Kingdom and, though frightened at times, remains there to bring the captured children to safety. Even blowing up a huge rock blocking our path doesn't make him run off. Look at how well behaved he is! The Red Riding Hood Sisters: A Horse of the Same Color This is our very own horse, the first we see in the series. Why it looks very similar to Noah's horse, so surely it will be as dependable and steadfast. Or... maybe there's more to training a horse than looks. Although we can't really blame this horse for running off after our carriage is attacked by a vicious Mist Wolf. The attack must have severed the reins holding him to the carriage because he doesn't seem to be dragged off the cliff with us. Lucky for him, though we can only hope he made it to safety afterward. The Final Cinderella: A Magical Equine It's not really fair to say this horse belongs to us. It's a magical horse that appears as soon as we wave the Magic Glass Wand at the enchanted Pumpkin Carriage outside of Hilltop Mansion. It's a beautiful, ethereal being, with a golden glow. After carrying the carriage to the Mirror World safely, the horse presumably disappears as readily as it appeared in the first place. So even while this horse may not technically be ours, it sort of shares the same spirit as all of our other horses; disappearing entirely as soon as it gets us where we're going ''(or near it, at least). Jack and the Sky Kingdom: Brave, But Not So Loyal This horse seems steady and brave enough, considering it maintains its course even with huge flaming chunks of the Sky Kingdom crashing down to the ground around it. However, when one of those chunks falls almost right on top of us, we get thrown from our carriage and black out. When we come to, our carriage is smashed to bits and our horse is nowhere to be seen. Presumably, it got to its feet and ran off while we were sleeping. While this isn't really the most loyal of actions, we can't really blame it for making a speedy getaway, especially with Leonard glaring at it while we're out cold. Ballad of Rapunzel: Maybe if We Ride It... Well, you can't accuse us of not trying to keep our horses with us. After losing two of them to carriage mishaps, we obviously decided a more direct approach was needed. Thus, for our ride to Floralia, we decided to ride the horse directly, forgoing a carriage entirely. Surely, if we're ON the horse, then it can't be separated from us, right? Well, not quite. As soon as our horse encounters the poisonous pollen emanating from Floralia, it rears wildly, bucking us off and galloping away. Oh well. Queen of Sands: Probably Took the Cart with It You can tell by how well we attached the horse to the cart that we're trying really hard to keep our horse with us this time. Really hard. Look at the straps and buckles and everything! Surely, he won't run off this time. And, to be fair, we don't actually see this horse run away... but we can only guess he did. After all, the cart we were riding in seems to have disappeared entirely after we're attacked by a giant Nightmare Tree at the entrance to Montafleur. Apparently, connecting our horse to the cart with extra care doesn't guarantee the horse stays - it only guarantees the cart goes, too. Goldilocks and the Fallen Star: A Lucky Escape This certainly looks like the same horse we had in Queen of Sands, and it seems as well rigged as that horse. Maybe we've been training it in our spare time! Maybe it will stay the course and remain with us for the whole game! Well, no. Not really. After getting attacked by a giant Silver Stag, our cart is destroyed and we're sent over a cliff nearly to our doom. When we finally climb up to safety, our horse is gone. Thankfully, the powers that be assured us that the horse merely ran off and wasn't killed. Lucky thing! Swan Princess and the Dire Tree: The Loyal One Different to what happens in the previous Dark Parables games, this time the Detective's Horse stays by her side along the way - at least until some point, but that is far more than any other has managed. It even helps her to rescue the Tailor from falling into one of the cracks consuming the Dire Island! Has the intrepid Detective finally uncovered the secret to keeping horses? The Thief and the Tinderbox: A Fiery Escape Following the format set by its peers, this horse runs away in the forest fire. Darn! However, it doesn't forget to throw the detective off its back first! Where did it even go? This doesn't seem to matter, though, as it knows exactly where the Detective will next find it. Good horse! Requiem for the Forgotten Shadow: A Near Collision With the last two adventures, the Detective seemed to be doing well with horses... but then as she entered Anaben, the Duke almost ran her over. The Detective did not crash, but her horse was nowhere to be seen afterward. Sigh... back to square one. Return of the Salt Princess: Loyal to the End It seemed that over the time, the Detective has bonded with her horse because even after she saw the Salt Princess, who caused the bridge above to collapsed in front of them, the horse did not get spooked and throw the Detective off to leave and ran away. What a loyal steed! The Match Girl's Lost Paradise: Buy one Game, get two Horses Free It seemed that the Detective continues to do well with her horse. Sadly, after the Match Girl blast fire towards the Detective, there were no sounds of the horse nor was it seen running away. It seemed that the poor animal was burned to a crisp. RIP horse. :.( We have ourselves another magical horse... Or is it the same one from The Final Cinderella? Either way, it doesn't belong to us, but it does its job right when taking us on a magical ride to magical realms... Only for it to disappear on us again. Oh well, it was good while it lasted :) Portrait of the Stained Princess: Role Reversal The horse continues to be our good companion. However, when Benno jumped out of the clearing, though the horse was spooked, it didn't run nor dropped the Detective. In fact, it seemed the Detective was the one who jumped off herself. Fabled Legends: An Honorable Mention Some Dark Parables fans theorize that the Fabled Inspector is actually the Fairytale Detective in an earlier time. However, the Inspector's horse survives the trip to Hamelin and is safely tethered at the entrance of the town throughout the entire game. This is great news for the Fabled Inspector, as they obviously have a loyal, dependable steed... but bad news for the theory of the two characters being one and the same. Fabled Inspector: 1/1 with horses. Fairytale Detective: 1/7 with horses. Cursery: A Wee Role We barely see the horse drawing the carriage in Cursery: The Crooked Man and the Crooked Cat, but we do see it briefly - which is more than we can say for it once the Crooked Cat attacks us and capsizes the cart. It seems to have taken a page from the Fairytale Detective's horses' playbooks and hightailed it right on out of there. Not that we can blame it entirely. After playing through Cursery's bonus game, we can't really blame any creature for wanting to get as far away from the area as possible. It probably caught one glimpse of Humpty Dumpty and just "Noped" right out of the entire game. Trivia * According to the police hierarchy, an Inspector could be ranked higher than a simple Detective. Perhaps that is why the Inspector's horse is so loyal, obedient, and didn't run off...maybe the Fairytale Detective needs to level up. * Since the Red Riding Hood Sisters, the trend of the horse running off has become a trend. Funny, but annoying. Category:Fun Category:Bestiary Category:Service and Helper Pets Category:The Red Riding Hood Sisters Category:Jack and the Sky Kingdom Category:Ballad of Rapunzel Category:Queen of Sands Category:Rise of the Snow Queen Category:The Final Cinderella Category:Goldilocks and the Fallen Star Category:The Swan Princess and the Dire Tree Category:The Thief and the Tinderbox Category:Requiem for the Forgotten Shadow Category:Return of the Salt Princess Category:The Match Girl's Lost Paradise Category:Cursery Category:Portrait of the Stained Princess Category:Fabled Legends